Mannerism vs. High Renaissance

Just from looking at the artwork, there is a clear difference between the High Renaissance style and the Mannerism style. The High Renaissance seems to prefer portraying the human body as naturally as possible. For example, Raphael's image of Mary with Jesus portrays them as looking natural, meaning that is what a mother and her child would look like if you saw them in real life. While the Mannerism style allows the artist to portray the body as they choose. Paramigianino's Madonna of the Long Neck is a prime example of the Mannerist style. Paramigianino lengthened the bodies of both Mary and her baby, causing them to seem almost in human. Mannerism also portrayed the body in contorted poses that would be awkward for a real person to pose in. Michelangelo's sculptures of Night and Day on the Tomb of Giuliani de' Medici show how the bodies were contorted into poses that seem unnatural.